It’s common knowledge that if your in the design or tech industry, your a glutton for gadgets. But not just your ordinary gadgets, we’re talking the bizzare, one of a kind or just plain amazing things that you don’t really need, but you definitly want. Every week we’re going to give you our top 5 most coveted items that we can’t live without!

1. Jambox Charity:Water Edition

Jawbone has joined forced with charity: water to help support staff and operations in bringing clean, safe drinking water to billions living without it. Each purchase of the powerful little bluetooth speaker Jawbone will donate $50 to support charity:water, making this the perfect gift that gives back. Another plus: they have tons of other great gadegets.

2. Patterns That Connect: Social Symbolism in Ancient and Tribal Art

Art historian Carl Schuster discovered a set of patterns designed by ancient peoples to illustrate their ideas about kinship. He decoded this iconography, and it is presented in this elegant book featuring over 1000 illustrations

4. Nuevo Monde Neck Wallet

Ok, we totally appreciate that this isn’t neccessarily the coolest thing ever, but it makes it look a little cooler. Give the gift of security and style at once with this over-the-head carrier for smartphones and credit cards. Handmade in Montreal, the full-grain calfskin makes a sharp case for travelers looking to keep their essential items close to the vest.

5. Bootleg Objects: RE-BO

A “representative of the era of the music cassette,” the RE-BO is Bootleg Objects’ interpretation of Jacob Jensen’s Beocenter 1400, which he designed for Bang&Olufsen in 1973. This cleverly updated version now houses a smart card reader in place of the cassette slot, a DVD drive and a 16:9 TFT display.

It’s common knowledge that if your in the design or tech industry, your a glutton for gadgets. But not just your ordinary gadgets, we’re talking the bizzare, one of a kind or just plain amazing things that you don’t really need, but you definitly want. Every week we’re going to give you our top 5 most coveted items that we can’t live without!

1. Eton Self-Powered Safety Hub

This safety hub features a digital tuner with radio, weatherband, a flashing-beacon LED light and three different backup power sources. The device also includes a cell phone charger and USB cable.

2. Literary Notecard Set

We always sort of wished we were born in the era of The Great Gatsby, but we’ll settle for some stationary instead. This set of literary notecards is designed with cover art from your favorite classics. The set comes with eights 3×5-inch cards with craft envelopes. Best of all, purchase of this set helps send books to a community in need..

4. Philips Soundring

This bold Airplay speaker from design-driven Dutch makers will look gorgeous on any desk, counter or shelf. Bordering on object of art, the portable sound system delivers 360 degrees of hi-fidelity sound anywhere in the house. With 16W RMS of total output power this wireless speaker will appeal to both the audiophile and design nerd.

5. Juice Pack Powerstation

The Juice Pack Powerstation can charge any USB device in the world including the iPhone, iPad and Android devices, plus the elegantly designed 4000mAh external battery will charge your device lighting-fast.

Facebook timeline is amongst us and it turns out you don’t actually have a choice. It’s slowly rolling out, but make no mistake about it – it’ll get to you too. Its a controversial, and pretty radical change for Facebook but since it’s not optional, we’re going to give you the lo-down on how to use it.

1. WHAT:

Timeline designer Nicholas Felton, known for his own info graphics and personal reports tracking everything from friends and relationships to workouts and coffee consumption, joined Facebook and helped to spearhead this new design. Felton created Timeline to represents a desire to give you a “rapid-fire summary of all the best things that happened to” you in the course of a year. Now, this is important to know: you have 7 days to fiddle around with the design of your timeline before it’s put into place, so we suggest getting on the bandwagon BEFORE its mandatory and allowing some design time.

2. HOW:

Open the above link and click “Get Timeline” at the bottom right hand corner. You’ll be asked to login, then choose a cover image. This is where you can get creative, so don’t rush into this step. We like simple, graphic images – they seem to have the highest impact and look best. After this, timeline goes right ahead and shuffles around all your content (friends, posts, photos etc) and goes underneath your cover photo You don’t entirely have control over this function so it’s best to just focus on what you CAN control. (Oh, and timeline arranges all these things chronologically, hence the “timeline” moniker)

3. “LIFE EVENTS”:

To navigate through this “timeline” is simple once you’ve given it a few tries. At the top of your timeline you can add content (photos, status, links etc). In case your resisting, timeline will “invite” you to add more of these things by clicking on the blue line that runs down the middle of your profile. If you have a few hours – or days – to spare, you can customize this with every event that has happened in your life thus far. The higher up you are, the more recent the event, the more you scroll down the page, the farther you get into the past.

4. EDITING YOUR PAGE/TIMELINE:

If you want to edit your page, this is where things get a little fun and a little frustrating. If you want to make something larger on the timeline or “feature” it, just click on the little star button or the image itself and do the same to make it smaller. If you want to delete this from your timeline completely, just click “edit” and “hide from timeline”. (Keep in mind that this doesn’t actually delete anything from Facebook, just hides it. If someone wants to find something, even if it has been removed, it’s searchable.)

5. PRIVACY:

You’ve lost it all folks, and if you want it back, your going to have to work for it. IF you are okay with everything you’ve ever had on your facebook, then ignore this section, if not – read on. This is a time intensive process and to be honest, we skipped over it. Here are the options: 1. Go through and manually hide/delete/adjust every single piece of information that has been shared (no thanks) 2. Head over to your privacy settings. Click on “limit audience for past posts”. Thats it – those are your privacy options.

We know a lot of people are resisting the change, but do your research and be open. Your only other option is to delete your profile or wait for everything to change again – which it inevitably will.

Its esthetically stunning, ingeniously smart and yes – you NEED this.

No more programming, no more constantly changing the temperature. The Nest™ Learning Thermostat™ programs itself in a week to keep you comfortable and save energy. Tony Fadell, longtime SVP of Apple’s iPod division, and lead engineer Matt Rogers have been waiting to unveil this for quite sometime and it’s already sold out until 2012. Darn. This video is a great summary, but visit Nest for an in depth look at…everything. You wont walk away from this site with any questions unanswered or hesitation. Oh, and the website is impeccable too!

Is there one to rule them all?

Since apple came out with the iPad, tablets have been popping up all over the place. The iPad is our hands down favorite, period. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other really great products on the market right now to choose from at lots of different price points. At theverge.com they have done all the work for us – and you – by testing every tablet on the market. We’re going to sum it up and give you the best – and leave out the worst. For amazingly, utterly fantastic, in-depth reviews visit the links below each review (seriously, these guys thought of EVERYTHING!)

4. Kindle Fire | Rating 7.5/10

1. HP Touch Pad | Rating 7.5/10

At DPI, were technology obsessed.

We think technology has been made some pretty amazing leaps in the last few years and we think we’re about to be completely wowed in the years to come…but thats just our prediction. Take a look at what was predicted in tech for 2011 and what actually came to fruition. We have our own favorites but now we’re looking at what’s to come for 2012 and later. Strap on the bibs are start drooling!

Top Predictions for 2011:

1. Near field communications (NFC) and mobile payments | This gets a half check, for obvious reasons2. Social gaming | Check: Zynga & Farmville anyone?
4. Social commerce | This one doesn’t get a check from us. Companies like Facebook and Groupon have begun making progress but it’s largely untapped.5. Everything connected | Half a check, because every device, from the television to my phone to your fridge doesn’t have a web address – yetSources & more 2011 tech predictions | more 2011 tech predictions

Our Favorites:

1. The Wacom Inkling | Turns paper into a digital sketch pad, enough said | more info
2. The world’s FIRST stretchable, elastic electrical cord | Genius! | more info3. The Apple OS X Lion | Beginning to close the gap between computers and gadgets | more info4. The Eye-Fi Direct Mode | Users can upload & e-mail shots anywhere there’s cell service | more info5. Lyto Light-Field Camera | Lytro reverses how we take pictures – In a league all it’s own | more info

One more step in a long line of mistakes…can facebook redeem itself?

Facebook has agreed to 20 years of privacy audits to settle a lengthy complaint from the Federal Trade Commission, which says Facebook misled its members about its use of their private data. Facebook “deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public,” the FTC said in its complaint.

The complaint cites several examples of alleged false promises from Facebook, most of which took place several years ago. One example: In December 2009, Facebook changed its website so that some information that users had shared with a private group of friends was made public — and users weren’t warned about the change. These events “were unfair and deceptive, and violated federal law,” the FTC said. Under the terms of the settlement, Facebook will have to undergo a third-party privacy audit every two years for the next 20 years. Twitter and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) have recently signed similar deals with the FTC.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg commented on the FTC settlement in a Facebook blog post on Tuesday afternoon. ”Overall, I think we have a good history of providing transparency and control over who can see your information,” he wrote. “That said, I’m the first to admit that we’ve made a bunch of mistakes. In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago, have often overshadowed much of the good work we’ve done.”

Leibowitz, the FTC chairman, called Zuckerberg’s post “a good sign” in comments during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. ”He admits mistakes,” Leibowitz said on the call. “That can only be good for consumers.”But Leibowitz ducked a reporter’s question about why, if Zuckerberg was admitting mistakes, the FTC settlement did not include an admission of guilt.

Facebook also on Tuesday named two executives to new roles focused on privacy. Erin Egan will become the company’s chief privacy officer in charge of policy, while Michael Richter will become Facebook’s chief privacy officer in charge of products. The company’s former privacy chief, Chris Kelly, left Facebook last year during his failed run for attorney general in California. The moves come as Facebook begins opening a new Pandora’s box of privacy issues. In September, Facebook began rolling out new features that let “social apps” broadcast every interaction users have with them. The apps are opt-in, but few users read the fine print or adjust the default settings. Many have been surprised to find applications like Spotify and the Washington Post broadcasting every song they stream or story they read. At this year’s F8 conference, Facebook’s annual gathering for developers, Zuckerberg laid out his vision of a Facebook that records and transmits every detail of its members’ lives: “Your runs, your bike rides, your cooking and eating, your sleeping, your happiness, your fashion — anything you want.”

Siri. Your Wish is its Command.

Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.

Dual Core A5 Chip -

Two cores in the A5 chip deliver up to two times more power and up to seven times faster graphics.1 And you’ll feel the effects. Fast. iPhone 4S is quick and responsive, which makes all the difference when you’re launching apps, browsing the web, gaming and doing just about everything. And no matter what you’re doing, you can keep on doing it. Because the A5 chip is so power-efficient, iPhone 4S has outstanding battery life.

The can’t-believe-it’s-on-a-phone-camera -

This just might be the best camera ever on a phone. And with all-new optics, it just might be the only camera you need. Because behind every shot, you’ve got 8-megapixel resolution and a custom lens with a larger f/2.4 aperture. Not to mention an improved backside illumination sensor, excellent auto white balance, advanced colour accuracy, face detection and reduced motion blur. It all means that no matter how many people, how much light, and how much action you capture, everything looks exactly as it should. And just wait until you see the photos.

Video recording. In 1080p amazing HD -

Shoot stunning 1080p HD video everywhere you go. With all-new optics, the light is always right, the colour is always vivid and everything will look even better than you remember. Video stabilization steadies shaky shots. And you can edit video right on iPhone and share your lush life as fast as you shoot.

iCloud. Your content. On all your devices -

iCloud is the easiest way to manage all your stuff, because it manages it all for you. iCloud stores your music, photos, apps, mail, contacts, calendars, documents and more. And wirelessly pushes them to all your devices. It’s automatic, effortless and seamless. And it just works.3

“At Modern PURAIR®, we have developed an exclusive PUR CURx® Contact Cleaning Scrub System that actually scrubs all 4 sides of your duct system eliminating dirt, dust and debris built up in your home’s air duct system….” visit The Modern PURAIR site to read more.

Now their clients can easily find all 15 locations, learn the importance and benefits of a clean HVAC system and even book an appointment online!

The DPI creative team really enjoyed working on this project. Between the efficient communication with our client and the collaborative skills of our team, we built a user friendly site that reflects the professionalism of Modern PURAIR. We also customized their Facebook and Twitter pages to match the ‘clean’ new look. Now we can both breathe a little easier!